State of Michigan Archives: on Government Reform

Rick Snyder:
Vetoed voter identification bill

Tea party conservatives criticize the first-term governor for vetoing a voter identification bill, proposing higher fees and taxes to fix Michigan roads, and supporting an Obama administration bailout of the auto industry early in the term.

Snyder, finishing the third year of his first four-year term in the only political office he's ever held, says he's neither
RINO nor radical, but a governor who's doing what he can to turn the state's economy fully to the positive. "I'm a person that doesn't get overly focused on politics,"
Snyder said. "I don't spend time worrying about what the far right or the far left thinks. It's really a case of, 'Here's a problem, here's common sense, here's a solution.'"

Source: Macomb Daily on 2014 Michigan Governor race
Dec 10, 2013

Gary Peters:
Nuclear option: Allow confirmation of Obama's appointees

[Peters spoke] at an event held by the Progressive Democratic Women's Caucus of Muskegon. Peters said he supported the senate's Democratic-led rule change to weaken the power of the filibuster [which has blocked all Obama nominees]. "I support the
changes in the rules," he said. "I support the old filibuster." He explained that he thinks the old rules have been abused. "Nominees have been stopped simply for politics. I think it's a big reason the American public are frustrated with Congress."

Source: Muskegon Chronicle on 2014 Michigan Senate race
Nov 23, 2013

Terri Lynn Land:
Super PACs are committed to Michigan

GOP candidate Terri Lynn Land is welcoming controversial super PAC money into her race to win Michigan's open Senate seat. Land [told an audience] that money raised by super PACs will be a resource in her campaign during a speech she gave last month at
the Republican Women of Leelanau County Garden Party.

Created in the wake of the landmark Citizens United Supreme Court ruling, super PACs can raise unlimited funds from corporations, unions, associations and individuals to advocate for or against
candidates, but money must be spent on independent political activity.

"The Citizens United lawsuit actually started here in Michigan," Land said. "And that changed the dynamics of politics, restricted the parties, but it let individuals and others
raise resources to do that. Our campaign has talked to a lot of those folks," she added. "They're committed to Michigan. They really want to support us here in Michigan. And if we can do this in Michigan, that means they win in the other states."

The State Bar of Michigan this month urged requiring everyone who contributes money to Michigan judicial campaigns to be publicly identified. It said a 2004 decision by then-Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land allowing those who bankroll so-called
judicial "issue ads" to remain anonymous undermines the integrity of the judicial system & conflicts with more recent US Supreme Court decisions requiring such donors to be identified. Issue ads typically attack a candidate without endorsing an opponent.

The State Bar, which represents 43,600 Michigan lawyers and judges, said secret contributions--dark money--prevent the public from knowing when [an elected] judge is being asked to rule on an issue involving a major donor. Dark money increasingly is
playing a role in Michigan judicial campaigns. Last fall, someone secretly spent $2 million on misleading attack ads in an unsuccessful effort to defeat an incumbent Oakland County Circuit Court judge.

Peter Hoekstra:
Setting 12-year term limit a mistake; after serving 18 years

time and time and time again to increase spending," Durant said. "Earmarks, entitlements and all these things that put our country at risk: you can't do it for 18 years and then say 'Well, I'm going to change.'"

Hoekstra stood up to the shots, saying
he made a mistake by setting a 12-year mark for his departure from the government. He pointed out his victory margins increased after he broke the promise. "The most important term limits are the ones people impose," he said.

We are creating a means by which to actually measure Michigan's progress. I find it curious that we've had State of the State addresses for decades. Yet I don't know of one where we actually had a report card to gauge our success. Government tends to
avoid measures and metrics, since it could lead to criticism. It is time for that attitude to disappear. True success is based on achieving real results for real people. We're going to have tough, hard measurements. Our achievements or lack of progress
will be evident, so tonight I'm presenting the Michigan Dashboard.

I will present a summary of this dashboard in every State of the State address I give. It is composed of 21 different measures in five key areas. The measurable areas are economic
growth, health and education, value for government, quality of life and public safety. These areas align with how we've organized the executive branch into the group executive structure.

Source: 2011 Michigan State of the State Address
Jan 19, 2011

Rick Wade:
Government doesn't invent but does create business framework

America has always looked to entrepreneurs and private sector innovators to generate the continuous flow of new technologies and new ideas we need to keep our economy going forward. This is who we're trying to help.

We know very well that lawmakers
don't invent. But the government does create the conditions--the framework--in which businesses operate. And that matters. Because just as it is foolish to look to government for all of our answers, it is equally foolish to imagine that government has no
productive role to play.

Think for a moment about the federal government building the interstate highway system, which for over half a century has sped the movement of goods across this country and delivered us immeasurable economic benefits. You'd be
hard-pressed to find anyone today who didn't think that was a good investment. But back in the 1930s, one prominent critic said, "it would be the first major step toward state socialism under which the federal government would take over private industry.

Mitt Romney:
Line-item veto can & should pass constitutional muster

GIULIANI: The line-item veto is unconstitutional. I took Bill Clinton to the Supreme Court and beat him. Itís unconstitutional. What the heck can you do about that if youíre a strict constructionist?

ROMNEY: Iím in
favor of the line-item veto. I had it, used it 844 times. I want to see Libby Doleís line-item veto put in place. Iíd have never gone to the Supreme Court and said itís unconstitutional.

Q: Do you believe it is?

ROMNEY: I believe the line-item veto,
if properly structured, passes constitutional muster. Iím in favor of the line-item veto to make sure that the president is able to help cut out pork and waste.

GIULIANI: You have to be honest with people. The line-item veto is unconstitutional. The
Supreme Court has ruled on it. I am in favor of a line-item veto, except you have to do it legally. If I had let Pres. Clinton take $250 million away from the people of my city illegally and unconstitutionally, I wouldnít have been much of a mayor.

Source: 2007 Republican debate in Dearborn, Michigan
Oct 9, 2007

Rudy Giuliani:
Frivolous lawsuits eat up 2.2% of GDP

[We need to] do something about legal reform. Itís 2.2 percent of our GDP now is spent on all of these frivolous lawsuits.
Itís double any other industrialized nation. We donít get control of that, thatís another way in which weíre going to eat up our future.

GIULIANI: The line-item veto is unconstitutional. I took Bill Clinton to the Supreme Court and beat him. Itís unconstitutional. What the heck can you do about that if youíre a strict constructionist?

ROMNEY: Iím in
favor of the line-item veto. I had it, used it 844 times. I want to see Libby Doleís line-item veto put in place. Iíd have never gone to the Supreme Court and said itís unconstitutional.

Q: Do you believe it is?

ROMNEY: I believe the line-item veto,
if properly structured, passes constitutional muster. Iím in favor of the line-item veto to make sure that the president is able to help cut out pork and waste.

GIULIANI: You have to be honest with people. The line-item veto is unconstitutional. The
Supreme Court has ruled on it. I am in favor of a line-item veto, except you have to do it legally. If I had let Pres. Clinton take $250 million away from the people of my city illegally and unconstitutionally, I wouldnít have been much of a mayor.

Source: 2007 Republican debate in Dearborn, Michigan
Oct 9, 2007

Mike Bouchard:
Supports line-item veto on spending bills

I know from firsthand experience that spending is not a partisan issue. In many cases, Republicans are just as guilty as Democrats. To eliminate wasteful spending contained in Congressional Appropriations bills, the President needs a line-item veto as
most governors have, including Michiganís. The President has proposed legislation that would provide him with a limited, constitutionally sound veto. I support providing the President with this common sense authority to help rein in all spending offenses

There may be terrible consequences for being good. There may be suffering, death, & deprivation. But we still have the choice. We can spit it all in the eye, or we can stand strong for what we know to be right. In that death we would vindicate the libert
that God has put in our hearts: the liberty to choose His way. That means when we surrender moral government to the courts, we have surrendered the very essence of freedom and its only real meaning, and we will not be free again until we get it back.

George W. Bush:
Agrees to no negative ads; stop tearing each other down

Q: [to Bush & Forbes]: Will you agree not to run any negative ads against each other?

FORBES. The answer is if being negative is telling the truth I will continue to tell the truth. People deserve it, we deserve an honest and open and vigorous debate.
And if a man breaks a pledge [re 1997 tax cuts], the voters ought to know it.

BUSH: Iíll run positive ads. Listen, I cut taxes as the governor. Thatís a fact. That is the bottom line. The people of my state know my record and they endorsed it
with an election. And yet if you look at [Forbesí] ads it doesnít say that. I donít mind debates. I do mind Republicans tearing each other down.

FORBES. Youíre not going to win the White House by making pledges that are
then broken. Weíve been through that before, particularly on taxes. A pledge made should be a pledge kept. And in Texas it was your own party that saved you from breaking that pledge. You tried to break it, they blocked you.

Source: (cross-ref to Forbes) GOP Debate in Michigan
Jan 10, 2000

Steve Forbes:
Negative ads are OK if they tell the truth

Q: [to Bush & Forbes]: Will you agree not to run any negative ads against each other?

FORBES. The answer is if being negative is telling the truth I will continue to tell the truth. People deserve it, we deserve an honest and open and vigorous debate.
And if a man breaks a pledge [re 1997 tax cuts], the voters ought to know it.

BUSH: Iíll run positive ads. Listen, I cut taxes as the governor. Thatís a fact. That is the bottom line. The people of my state know my record and they endorsed it
with an election. And yet if you look at [Forbesí] ads it doesnít say that. I donít mind debates. I do mind Republicans tearing each other down.

FORBES. Youíre not going to win the White House by making pledges that are
then broken. Weíve been through that before, particularly on taxes. A pledge made should be a pledge kept. And in Texas it was your own party that saved you from breaking that pledge. You tried to break it, they blocked you.

Source: (cross-ref to Bush) GOP Debate in Michigan
Jan 10, 2000

The above quotations are from State of Michigan Politicians: Archives.

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